Stay ret or learn holy?

I love playing ret paladin and that's all I have ever played since the end of TBC. I've never fully leveled another toon too level cap, or played another spec of paladin. If i had my choice, I would just stay purely ret and be done with it. The problem is, I love to raid and it seems like no one wants ret paladins to much even if the ret is above average. So, I was thinking of maybe learning to play holy and play them both so I could get into a higher progression guild. (Or maybe level a frost DK and have fun like that lol)

So what I want to know, is playing holy hard and should I level another pally from 1 as holy to learn like that?

Should I just purely stay ret?

Would it be a good idea to learn frost DK as well as I know ret and just play that?

I know it's all about what I have fun doing, and no one can really say for me for sure, but it's always nice to have another persons personal opinion on things. Thanks.

if a guild doesn't want to take you because you're ret, they're not worth it IMHO. HOWEVER, it is good to have a tank or healing OS so you can bring some flexibility to the raid.

I agree. However, be very cautious about your offspec since most of the times guild lack healers and tanks (hurrdurr). It wouldn't be the first time when you show your "flexibility" and tadah, that's your mainspec till the goddamn end x)

Originally Posted by Pie Eater

Have you read the planned frost mage "nerfs" ?!? It's like nerfing a hangman's rope by coloring it blue.

"No one wants Ret" ... Who is 'no one'? This isn't TBC. Ret has been in a lot worse places.

I never said it hasn't? And I agree, ret is in a good place and has been continuing in the right direction for a while now. But, a lot of guilds always seem to want anything over ret and I rareeeely see guilds recruiting a ret paladin. I do however, see guilds constantly recruiting holy paladins and that's why I was wondering if I should learn holy, then after that show them what I can do as ret.

when you show your "flexibility" and tadah, that's your mainspec till the goddamn end x)

I was been a ret since classic, never cared about holy or prot seriously. But after my resub, i felt that i want a change. I'm holy now and have a blast. i feel needed, useful and it's another perspective of raiding.

The problem is, I love to raid and it seems like no one wants ret paladins to much even if the ret is above average. So, I was thinking of maybe learning to play holy and play them both so I could get into a higher progression guild.

If you want to get into a higher progression guild and you've just played ret, you're better off staying as ret. Yes, you can start healing but you'll probably not (immediately) get into a more progressed guild that way.

If you want to play holy, then play holy. It's always good but honestly not that important to have an offspec.

Originally Posted by Song

So what I want to know, is playing holy hard and should I level another pally from 1 as holy to learn like that?

It's as hard as healing is. You don't need to level from 1 to do so, nor is it really beneficial to.

Originally Posted by Song

Would it be a good idea to learn frost DK as well as I know ret and just play that?

Every spec in the game can raid just fine, you just might not be getting world firsts with it.

If you're bringing a plate DPS it makes more sense to bring a DK or Warrior, but that doesn't mean that you should never bring a Ret if you have one available that wants to raid. But if you enjoy DPS and only want to play Ret you can certainly find a raiding guild that will take you.

As for learning Holy, it isn't hard to learn how to heal. Healing really isn't particularly difficult, just do a few heroics and you'll figure it out in no time.

Get some gear first, whether it's crafted or from off-spec rolling or heck even the 429 ilvl vendor gear from dread wastes. Then queue for Stormstout brewery or temple of jade serpent NORMAL specific to get used to looking at health bars instead of a boss, while you're getting used to your spells. 1-2 heals top off anyone at lvl 85 probably.

Holy is a spec is pretty straight forward to learn but you will not rule the meters until you start to understand your tool set and damage patterns in fight and so forth. How ever if it is retribution that you want to play you should stick with it. Otherwise you will just get annoyed and quit the game. Being able to perform decently in a second role how ever definetly will increase your chances of getting a spot in a raiding guild. Just make sure to clarify which spec you want to play as main during your application.

Can you define "in a good place"? To me yes they don't completely suck, but why bring a ret when you can bring another dps-class that brings a lot higher dps. I was watching one of the guys in Method stream a few days ago when one of the viewers asked him about ret and he said something like this:
Why should we bring a sub-par dps class when we instead can bring 5 mages or 5 warlocks?

Raidbots grabs all the logs from Worldoflogs.com and ranks the class dps with dose numbers, this is how it looks now:!!!The numbers below should not be taken as complete facts, but they give a decent hint of the current state of each class!!!
25 man heroic (all parses):
1. DK
2. Rogue
3. Warlock
4. Mage
5. Hunter
6. Warrior
7. Priest
8. Monk
9. Druid (melee)
10. Shaman (caster)
11. Paladin

Bleeding edge = Ret is unwanted unless your raid is lacking Holy & Prot Paladins to cover AM/Hand Spells. Ret does decent on certain fights (e.g. heroic modes Jinrokh, Horridon, Magaera, Dark Animus, possibly Lei Shen) but why take decent when you can have exceptional with another Warlock, Rogue, or DK instead? Obviously this is from a 25m perspective, so things might be different when it comes to 10mans.

If your group isn't pushing hardcore progression then it really doesn't matter what DPS class you play, so if you should just play whatever you like, OP.

however you are right that it will be easier to get a raid spot as holy as currently ret is behind rogue/dk and isnt really that desired when it comes to melee dps as a good prot pally does more damage than a ret will......the changes helped ret but still wasn't enuff

and holy aint hard to learn....run 5mans and lfr and just practice.....should be fine

but again...if u want to stay ret then stay ret....ull find a guild eventually

Hehe I did that mistake of putting in the line can play holy OS when I made my apply to a guild, guess what - I ended up being holy 90% of the time, and only got to play ret when we where lacking like 5 dps' (In 25man). So if you realy realy want to play ret, find a guild that is looking for any dps or a ret paladin. Dont do the mistake of putting in that you can play Holy.